Guinea pigs killed in dog attack

RIP Panda, Truffles, Patch and Lila

Gutted: Stacey Grainger was on a high after completing a triathlon on Sunday until she got home to find her guinea pigs had been killed.

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A Blenheim school teacher was on a high after completing the Jules Taylor Women's Triathlon on Sunday until she arrived home to find all four of her guinea pigs had been killed.

Stacey Grainger, of Springlands School, said Panda, Truffles, Patch and Lila had lived at her property backing onto the Taylor River for seven years and had never had a problem.

She was upset to come home on Sunday to find her pets spread around the lawn, and believed a dog must have entered her backyard off the river and attacked the cages "with quite force", as none of her neighbours had dogs.

"We don't know if it was dogs that had known they were here or if it was just random," she said.

Ms Grainger hoped someone might have seen or heard something, but none of her neighbours were home at the time.

"There would have been horrific noise . . . it was basically in the space of about half an hour [while we were all out]," she said.

Ms Grainger phoned the SPCA, who would be contacting dog control authorities.

Dog control might be able to identify what sort of dog or dogs killed her guinea pigs, two of which were hand-reared, she said.

"To be honest I don't know if I would be able to [work out who the dog belonged to] . . . I'm just thinking surely if a dog did jump the fence, would you not as an owner come up and see and call them back? If it can do that to animals it could probably attack a person."

Ms Grainger was not sure if she would get any more guinea pigs as she was scared to have them, but said she would be buying a bigger hutch which stood off the ground if she did.